Withings’ next watch can give you an electrocardiogram | CES 2020

French company Withings has just closed the book on a pretty unusual decade which saw it sold to Nokia and then bought back by the original co-founder two years later. Its started the new decade doing what it does best: presenting a hybrid watch that brings the best of smartwatches to a more traditional analogue design.

Announced at CES in Las Vegas, the Withings ScanWatch takes a leaf out of the recent Apple Watch book with the ability to spot atrial fibrillation and sleep apnea with a built in electrocardiogram (ECG).

Users can take an ECG reading whenever they like by touching both sides of the bezel for 30 seconds, while a live graph is shown on the tiny PMOLED screen. The watch will recommend a test when the built-in heart-rate sensor detects abnormal activity, too.

“ScanWatch is our most ambitious medical tracker and purposely designed to detect the early presence of AFib and sleep apnea – two related issues that are extremely common yet largely undiagnosed, despite their known impact on multiple health conditions,” said Withings CEO Mathieu Letombe.

“Worn throughout the day and night, ScanWatch provides an early warning system, collecting and sharing critical health data with users and their physicians.”

If you’ve seen any Withings wearable since the days of the Withings Steel HR, it’ll look pretty familiar. The 38 or 42mm stainless steel and sapphire glass cases houses an analogue face with a smaller dial for tracking steps and the aforementioned circular PMOLED screen for notifications. It also packs an SpO2 sensor this time around, letting you track oxygen levels overnight.

The release window – Q2 2020 – is quite a wide one, thanks to required CE and FDA clearance which, at the time of writing, is still pending. But the price is set in stone: the 38mm case version will sell for £229, while the 42mm edition will set you back £279.

Alan was Deputy Editor of Alphr.com, senior Editor at Mediablaze and a Producer at Mousebreaker, and has freelanced widely for The New Statesman, CNET and Pocket Gamer. Alan currently writes news for …

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